I was in solitary confinement in Fidel Castro's tropical gulag -- where I
spent 22 years for refusing to pledge allegiance to the Communist regime
-- when I heard a child's voice whimpering.

"Get me out of here! Get me
out of here! I want to see my mommy!"

I thought my senses were failing me.
I could not believe that they had imprisoned a child in those dungeons.

Later on, I learned the story of Robertico.He was 12 years old when they
arrested him. A captain in the political police had left his gun in his
open car. When he returned to the car he saw the child playing with it. He
slapped Robertico and took him into custody. The child was sent to an
adult prison in Havana, where he was condemned to spend the rest of his
youth. He would not be released until he reached the age of 18. Robertico
was sent to a galley with common criminals. Within a few days, those
soulless prisoners raped him. He spent several days in the hospital for
treatment of rents and hemorrhages as a result. By the time he was
released, his file had been stamped "homosexual" and he was taken to the
prison area reserved for this classification.

Robertico was so slender
that his body fit through the bars of the cells. One night he slipped out
to watch cartoons on the guard's television. When he was discovered, he
was sent to the punishment cells. He was taken out of those cells three
times a week for injections because he was suffering from a venereal
disease. A guard told me he was so young he did not even have pubic hair.

Comment ... SoCô¿ôL Bob

This is an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT and valuable contribution to any dialogue on this subject.

It is the recitation of a personal experience. This is one of the ways that human beings
communicate best to others. This is where this persons opinion is coming from.

Sharing this experience with you so that you can make a judgment and ultimately benefit from the experience
is an important part of the well done communication process.

This person should be CONGRATULATED for sharing this portion of the essence of their opinion.

If you are going to include the lessons of this experience in your consideration of the issue you are probably
going to have to make a determination.

If it's true ..

If it's representative ..

If it's relevant to deciding your recommendation or feelings on the issue.

When I think of Elian Gonzalez, Robertico always comes to mind. [Here this person has acknowledged that this
experience has had a significant influence on his opinion. I suspect he would recommend that it should have
a similar result in you. This is
the Cuban society to which Elian may return: a society where all rights
are violated in the interest of subordinating all individuals to the will
of the supreme leader. Sadly, some in America still believe that the Cuban
revolution was a triumph of good.

It is worth remembering that many also
refused to believe the horrors of the Nazi extermination camps. Then, the
world had to wait for eyewitness accounts from journalists and
photographic evidence from their camera crews before finally accepting the
horrible reality of what had happened. Many other Americans seem to
believe that even if savage things once happened under Fidel Castro, the
situation has now changed. Yet the same dictatorship, which sanctioned the
abuse of Robertico and has tortured thousands of political prisoners, is
still wielding absolute power over the Cuban people. Fidel Castro has
never recanted or apologized for the atrocities that have been reported by
those who have escaped his grasp. And there is a stream of evidence that
the brutality and repression continues. Last month the United Nations
Human Rights Commission condemned Cuba, for the eighth time, for its
systematic violation of human rights. Amnesty International and the U.S.
State Department have done the same.

It is standard practice around the
world to transfer the custody of children to the surviving parent when the
other dies. That is what is normal. But Cuba is not a normal place. If
Elian is returned to Cuba, he will be sent back to a place where most
people dream every day of escape. This is a significant part of the issue. In this situation,
does the parent have custody as we mean it when we say in the absence of anything else we believe
the father should have custody. Should the anything else depend on the nature of the government to which
the father is subject? If so what will and are the parameters of that determination. This person
would argue that giving custody to the father in this situation cannot be done, because of the political
system he is subject to. He does not have, cannot have, will not have custody of the child if custody
is given to him. We cannot grant him what he cannot have in this political system.

It is an island prison where a cruel
tyranny has now lasted almost half a century.

A fifth of the country's
population -- around two million people -- have fled, and more than
half-a-million have been courageous enough to apply for visas to leave.

Outside of Cuba, Elian will grow up as a free person with a free
conscience. But if he returns, he will be "reprogrammed," as Castro
himself has made clear.

The Cuban government has already shown the world
the residence where psychiatrists and psychologists will instruct Elian on
how to despise and hate anyone who is against communism -- including his
own mother, who gave her life to bring him to freedom. In a few years
she'll be nothing but a traitor to!
the Revolution.

If Elian returns to Cuba his father will have no authority whatsoever to make
decisions related to his education. Cuban
"law" gives that authority to the Communist government. This is the issue stated as before.

Children are indoctrinated in Cuba from the moment they start to read.
They are taught that the Communist party is owed loyalty above everything
else.

And they are taught that they must denounce their parents if they
criticize or do anything against the Revolution or its leaders.

For Elian, absolute control by the Communist party will begin in elementary school
with the so-called "Cumulative School File." This is a little like a
report card, but it is not limited to academic achievements. It measures
"revolutionary integration," not only of the student but also of his
family.

This file documents whether or not the child and family
participate in mass demonstrations, or whether they belong to a church or
religious group.

The file accompanies the child for life, and is
continually updated.

His university options will depend on what that file
says.

If he does not profess a truly Marxist life, he will be denied many
career possibilities.

From his elementary school days on, he will hear
that God does not exist, and that religion is "the opium of the masses."

If any student speaks about God, his parents will be called to the school,
warned that they are "confusing" the child and threatened.

The Code for
Children, Youth and Family provides for a three-year prison sentence for
any parent who teaches a child ideas contrary to communism. The code is
very clear: No Cuban parent has the right to "deform" the ideology of his
children, and the state is the true "Father."

Article 8 of that same code
reads, "Society and the state work for the efficient protection of youth
against all influences contrary to their Communist formation."

It is mandatory for all Cuban children over the age of 12 to do time in a
Communist work camp in the countryside. Away from all parental supervision
for nine months at a time, children there suffer from venereal disease, as
well as teenage pregnancy, which inevitably ends in forced abortion.

When
the reprogramming plan for Elian is complete, we will see him repeating
the slogans of the Revolution. He will have lost his liberty, his ability
to dream, his youthful innocence, and perhaps even hope.

And should he
ever do anything that angers the regime, we must hope he will not end like
Robertico, cornered in a cell, calling for his mother. This time, she will
not be able to save him.

It shall be up to you to determine if this set
of facts would have an impact on your opinion.

Mr. Valladares was U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission
from 1986-1990. He is the author of the best-seller "Against All Hope,"
which will be rereleased in October by Encounter Books.

Originally published in the May 5, 2000: The Wall Street Journal as A
Firsthand Account Of Child Abuse, Castro Style. Republished here by
permission of the author.

KEEPING ELIÁN FREE IS THE MORAL—AMERICAN—THING TO DO.

Would such a decision be tolerated by Americans 150 years
ago if Elián was a black child who had escaped from a
Southern plantation to freedom in the North? Any monster
that advocates Elián's return to slavery does not
deserve the noble title of calling himself an American.

Regardless of your opinion, this is the type of expression I submit is not in the end result
interests of anyone. To LEAP from a person who might reasonably conclude that the father should have
custody and it should not be a part of the decision what the political system of the government
that he lives under .. to

monster

un-american

... would clearly give one justification for highly suspecting anything this person has to say.
Calling you a monster for your opinion will not sit well with you. IT is not positive. It will
not communicate positively. It will bring out the negative in YOU every time. The end result will not be
the best it can be.

In the name not of Cuban nationalism, but of Americanism
in its original and deepest philosophical meaning--the
inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness for all--Elián Gonzalez must be allowed to
remain free in the United States of America.

Come join your fellow Americans to rally to keep Elián
Gonzalez free. It may not be the popular thing to do;
it is the moral--American--thing to do. To rally for
Elián's individual rights is to rally for your own.

The intellectual battle for Elián's rights is not over--
thousands of Americans will be holding demonstrations on
Wednesday, May 10th, 2000 outside the Federal Buildings of
major American cities including Atlanta, Boston Charlotte,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Jacksonville, Louisville,
Miami, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, Wash D.C.

Our goal is to make Americans aware that the moral thing to
do is the American thing to do: protect Elián's inalienable
right to his own life by keeping Elián free in America.

All the members of the public who agree with this cause are
invited to attend.